Huawei has a workforce with an average age of 27. Unlike the stereotypical Chinese company, Huawei doesn't primarily manufacture goods; its highly educated employees create the routers, switches, and telecom gear that other vendors make.
Huawei

Up-and-coming hardware designer and phone maker Huawei has been making a name for itself of late. But expanding into the U.S. market hasn't been easy.

The company was dogged all year by accusations that some of its employees might actually be spies for the Chinese government. Huawei issued several statements to the contrary. And after 18 months of investigations, a White House review reportedly found no evidence to this effect.

But even if that report turns out to be true, some in Congress weren't satisfied. Regardless of whether there are currently spies working at Huawei and fellow Chinese telecommunications maker ZTE, neither company was able to convince the U.S. House Intelligence Committee that they could not possibly be persuaded by the Chinese government to aid its espionage efforts if enlisted to do so. The committee, therefore, issued a report in October discouraging American businesses from buying equipment made by Huawei or ZTE.

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Jennifer Guevin is managing editor at CNET, overseeing the ever-helpful How To section, special packages, and front-page programming. As a writer, she gravitates toward science, quirky geek culture stories, robots, and food. In real life, she mostly just gravitates toward food.
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